Almaden

Almaden is a city located in Iraq. During the Iraq War, Almaden was one of the centers of violence between the US Marine Corps and the Iraqi insurgents, with the insurgents using the mosque as their base.

History
Almaden is a predominantly-Sunni Muslim city, with a large Sunni mosque standing in the center of the city. There are several office buildings in the city, which was once an affluent part of Iraq under Ba'athist Iraq. However, in 2003 the US Marine Corps took over the city during the Iraq War, having fought off the Iraqi Army and established some authority in the city. It was quickly disrupted by Iraqi insurgents, who launched attacks on US patrols from the mosque, used as a base by their resistance fighters. Several times, American soldiers fought off the Iraqi insurgents and took over the city of Almaden, such as the large mosque in the center of the city. Almaden's Sunni population were hostile to the Americans, and the place was an area of calamity for US troops.